


Birthday Surprise

by Moosey



Series: Sterek Week 2016 [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek POV, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hale Family Feels, M/M, Magic!Stiles, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Sterek Week 2016, SterekMagic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-24 05:05:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8358454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moosey/pseuds/Moosey
Summary: Stiles gives Derek a special birthday surprise.





	

It probably didn’t seem like too much of a leap of faith when you apply logic to it; even blindfolded, Derek would be able to hear and smell enough that he could parse his surroundings well enough. Still, it was the gesture, the implied trust, that Stiles’ scent reacted to. His scent had bloomed into something sweeter and lighter. He was happy. 

Happy Stiles was easily Derek’s favourite scent in the whole world. 

Their fingers were laced together so that Stiles could guide Derek through the preserve, keeping up a running commentary as they went so that Derek would know when to take a step over a root, or duck a low hanging branch. 

“So my birthday surprise is my own territory?” Derek asked dryly, twitching his nose to try and pin point their exact location. 

“Stop with the sniffer,” Stiles chastised, giving Derek’s hand a squeeze. His fingers were cold, succumbing to the chill of winter. 

“I can’t just turn off my nose Stiles,” Derek huffed. 

“Hey I wonder if I could do a spell,” Stiles said excitedly, pausing and causing Derek to bump into his back with the abruptness of it. “I mean I can mask your scent and all of that, but I wonder if I could dull down your senses?” 

“Why would we ever need you to do that? That makes zero sense.” 

“Well it would come in pretty handy right around now, seeing as you can’t control your own nose,” Stiles scoffed. “Anyway, stop distracting me. I need to focus.” 

“Good luck with _that_ ,” Derek murmured. They lapsed into silence and Stiles was humming under his breath. It was a sure-fire sign that he was, in fact, trying to focus. 

“Ooh hey, here we go,” Stiles announced, touching a hand to Derek’s stomach to still him. “Now stay put. Just a sec,” he said, voice fading slightly. The rustling and the sound of Stiles’ feet thudding on the forest floor implied Stiles was jogging away. Derek tilted his head to hear better and took a deep breath. The air had a sharpness to it, a little like the scent of a thunderstorm. Derek knew that scent, the faint hum over his skin of electricity, like a low level vibration. He touched his fingertips to his forearm and felt his skin buzzing. 

He could picture Stiles, still and steady for once, arms at his sides with his palms turned forward, fingers moving slightly as though coaxing the air. Tiny sparks of silvery-white would be jumping between his fingers. 

“Come here Der? Just follow the sound of my voice, it’s a clear pathway,” Stiles said. Derek took a few tentative steps, and grinned as Stiles began singing Howlin’ For You, by the Black Keys. Derek had once mentioned liking it, which Stiles had decided was ridiculously adorable and had since set it as his ring tone for Derek. Because of course he did. 

He stepped into Stiles’ space and the air felt warmer, as though Stiles were standing in a bubble. The scent of the air changed too, becoming floral and sharp, the familiar scent of the forest gone. Even when he inhaled hard he couldn’t detect the scents of the preserve. 

“Stiles?” he said questioningly, frowning. “You better not be fucking with my senses right now.” 

“Dude, no. I’m not, it’s just… hold on. You’ll see.” He laced their fingers and began leading Derek forward. The scent got richer, headier, the more Stiles led Derek forward. Trill sounds echoed around them, unfamiliar to Derek. Nothing like the usual sounds of the preserve. Derek was feeling like he was suddenly very far from home. 

“Okay, so. Stop.” Stiles moved around and undid the blindfold. Derek blinked, squeezing his eyes shut a couple of times, and then looked at his surroundings, agape. 

They were standing in a clearing, on the edge of a cliff. The trees around them were shockingly tall, impossibly so, with fronds that hung down and brushed the floor, like weeping willows but the leaves were tiny and round, myriad colours mixing into something that didn’t look real. The floor was lush and grassy with blooming wildflowers scattered all around, each holding a tiny light within that corresponded to the colours of the petals. Tiny little bursts of colourful luminescence, like fireflies. It had been daylight when they’d set out, but here it was twilight, the dusky cast of fading light and emerging night giving everything a blue hue. Even as Derek watched, the stars began to shine brighter, constellations he’d never seen before scattering the darkening sky. 

“Stiles,” he breathed, stepping to the edge. The view beyond was _spectacular_. Gentle hills of the most otherworldly flowers, strange plants with leaves that twisted and curled, hits of light glowing in the distance. There was a waterfall somewhere near by, Derek could hear it, and the gentle burbling of water in a brook. “Where is this?” 

“It’s an in-between place,” Stiles said, stepping close and sliding his hand around Derek’s waist, fingers curling over his hip. “They exist just beyond the veil of our world. It’s safe though. No one lives here anymore. They’ve all moved on.” 

“Where did they go?” 

“I don’t know. But they’re happy, wherever they went. I know that much. They echo in this place. You can hear them sometimes, like they’re singing.” 

“What do they sound like?” 

“I’m hoping you’ll hear while we’re here. If not, we can come back. But if all goes to plan…” Stiles pressed a kiss to Derek’s shoulder. “Come on, I have food.” 

“You brought food?” 

“Like I said, I had a plan,” Stiles grinned. Derek looked over the valley once more, but couldn’t help but turn and follow Stiles. Waves of contentedness were rolling off of him, and Derek went to him like a moth to a flame. “Ta da! Everything your little carnivorous wolfy heart could desire,” Stiles said with aplomb, opening his arms in a grand gesture. 

“Stiles,” Derek sighed, scenting the rich meatiness of venison. “Deer? Really?” 

“Hey, I can handle eating Bambi once in a while if it keeps my wolfman happy,” Stiles smirked. 

Derek chuffed out a little laugh and felt fondness swelling inside of him. Stiles’ skin looked ethereal in the light of this place, and he moved with an ease Derek rarely saw back home. Like he knew he was safe here, without question. 

There was a small campfire with a pot hanging over it, and a picnic basket off to the side of a red plaid blanket that looked a lot like something Stiles would have tried to wear once upon a time. In fact… 

Derek laughed, realising why it was so familiar. Stiles grinned up at him and tugged Derek down to sit. The fleecy blanket was soft under Derek’s fingertips, and smelled so very strongly of _Stiles &Derek, _even though they hadn’t been Stiles&Derek yet. “I didn’t know you still had this,” Derek smiled. 

“Seriously dude? I’m like a low level hoarder. My old room at my dads is becoming a serious problem. I couldn’t let this go,” Stiles shrugged, lips pulling into a fond smile. 

Derek watched as Stiles pulled out various and sundry from the picnic basket, and remembered when Stiles had been a senior, realising he had so much more than just a spark within him. He’d declared himself a wizard, of course adopting a terrible imitation English accent because “Hogwarts is in _England_ Derek,” and wrapped himself up in this plaid blanket, stolen from the back of Derek’s sofa, and worn it like a cape, swooshing it around and sending little sparks flying into the air. 

The scorch marks on one corner went to show why that had been a terrible idea. 

They sat and ate their food, surrounded by unfamiliar birdsong and the snuffling sound of small rodents that Derek couldn’t identify, even though he’d catalogued as many small animals as he could when a child because he thought it would make him a better wolf. 

The tension in Derek’s muscles was uncoiling, and he lay with his head in Stiles’ lap after they’d eaten their fill, eyes drifting closed at the feel of Stiles’ fingers brushing through his hair, lulling him into a doze. 

“Is this always here?” he asked sluggishly, tongue heavy with a happy kind of sleepiness. 

“Yeah, it is. Right in the heart of your territory,” Stiles said, tilting his head back to look up at the sky. His neck was a pale column of delicate strength, and that he’d bare it to Derek like this without thought meant a lot. More than Stiles would likely ever know. “It’s a whole new place for you to explore Der,” Stiles said, sounding soft. “It’s just… I wish I’d known about it sooner. I wish I could have given you this sooner, but I wasn’t allowed. It didn’t show itself until it was ready,” Stiles said, sadness filtering through his scent. Derek let out a little whine and rubbed his cheek against Stiles’ thigh. He didn’t understand the sadness, but he knew Stiles’ would explain when he was ready. 

And then, from somewhere far, far away, rose the haunting sound of a lone wolf howling, the melody of it raising goosebumps on Derek’s skin. He scrabbled upright, standing with his eyes closed. “Stiles?” he asked, voice tremulous. He’d never sounded like that before in his life, but then he’d never felt like this before. 

“Yeah Der. The echoes. The singing,” Stiles said, standing and taking a hold of Derek’s hand. He was warm and solid, something to tether Derek down whilst his heart tried to break out of his chest. 

The howl rose again, this time followed with a chorus, a sound that crescendoed into something Derek had been sure he’d never hear again. His family, his pack, calling to each other. It wasn’t a melancholy sound, and Derek knew Stiles had been telling the truth. 

They were happy. 

His mom led the call, and her cry was joyous. It pulled at something within Derek, and he threw his head back and joined them, from so far away, but still his howl mingled in with theirs, filling out the sound and lending it what had been missing. 

He quietened with a swallow, the lump in his throat too much to ignore now, and turned his head to see Stiles watching him, eyes glittering with damp and a smile on his face that Derek had never seen before. 

“You gave me my family Stiles,” Derek said wetly, shaking his head in wonder. “I don’t know how, but you gave me them back.” His breath shuddered, and his face was wet, tears smudging under Stiles’ fingertips as he touched Derek’s face. 

“I’d give you the world if I could dude,” Stiles said, thumbs smoothing away the tears from Derek’s cheeks.

Derek closed his eyes as his family’s song rose up once more, and caught Stiles’ lips with his own, a soft, searching kiss that he poured his heart into. “You did Stiles. You already did.” 

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first Sterek Week fic I wrote... As soon as I saw the Magic!Stiles theme, I wanted to write something like this. Short, sweet, and... happy?


End file.
